Thoughts the stallion, Grafenstolz?

Opinion and what type of mares he would cross best with?

horseofcorff.com/grafenstolz

On my FB if you aren't friends with her already, look for a girl named Ashley Giles. She has a Graf filly that was born this year and might can help you. Really nice gal

This was posted Feb 2012 by Maren & is incredibly detailed.
I remember Graf's approval very well, it was a year of a number of very good stallions in NMS and Graf was a most impressive jumper. Most impressive. Very much like a cat, and nobody really expected that based on his pedigree. His sire, as a young stallion under Dorothee Schneider, was a very good dressage horse, BuCha, fame, the whole nine yards. And to this day Polarion will stick in my mind as one of the best "canter" horses I've ever seen. Graf came to NMS from a mare family that is mostly decorated by titles. That does NOT mean these horses are no use in performance, it is rather a reflection of many Trakehner breeders at the time that wanted titles more than sports. We have better (more proven) mare families and a string of State and Verband premium titles means pretty much nothing at the end of the day. HOWEVER, this G line also stands for at least two outstanding sport horse sires with offspring at advanced levels in all disciplines, of which I'd like to point out the exceptional Guter Planet. Fabulous sport horse sire. No question about it (ever considered where Hofrat's impressive movement comes from??).

Graf was the first purebred Trakehner that Gestüt Birkhof ever bought in NMS. He stood to a very limited book in his first year - please consider the size of the Trakehner population for a second. We see about 1500 foals born every year, more or less worldwide (!). So if he bred 25 mares, it was a lot. Sometime in his 4th year, if I remember correctly, he had a rather devastating accident on the phantom (I think) and was out of commission, breeding and riding, for a long time. When Michi Jung got on him, he took the stallion from virtually no saddle experience to training level - prelim - intermediate in one single season. That speaks volumes about the horse's mental capacity, and it is also a very good reason why in later times, we would occasionally see weird behavior like the one at Lion (which he won) where he stopped in the middle of the green field and it needed quite some convincing on part of Jung to get the horse going again. I have seen Graf probably around 15 times in the flesh, especially in the barn isles (we stabled across from him in 2010), in the warm-up ring etc and I have not seen him misbehave one single time. I DO KNOW that there is this behavior, as others have reported it. However, I always come back to this intense, if not stupid "let's move him from training to advanced in one season" episode of his young life. THAT did not help!!

The horse moved on, by that time he was breeding moderately, since he was also approved for all South German registries, but we're a far cry from the 200+ mares he would later get. Out of his very first foal crop, he sent the Baden-Württemberg branded Gin Tonic FBW to the Bundeschampionat (eventing, I think he finished in the top 3).
2004, the famous year of qualifiying for all three major disciplines at the BuCha - not done by any other horse, ever. Again, I have to wonder and ask myself why exactly one young horses needed all that stress. What was the point? The BuCha is not some little show you take on the side, qualifying for it is really really tough for a youngster. Three disciplines? Why not drive him too and try for 4?? Seriously ....
He finally competed in what he did best, and won, with a score that I think is still unsurpassed to this day, 9.6 or something like that. The BuCha is in early September, and only about 6 weeks later, he ships to France, has a major hiccup xc (look it up), and still wins the thing.
Next year's breeding book had I think something around 200 mares, including a lot of Trakehners - the 2005 crop was his "best" in numbers in the Trakehner breed, I think he topped the list of most-used stallions (with most foals born in one season, something like 50). That makes the first significant foal crop comeing 7yrea olds in 2012.
In the meantime, his performance career moved on - CCI*** by age 8 I think, won bronze at the German Champs in Luhmühlen. That is not some little backyard show. This is serious *** material.

At some time that year clients tried to buy him and the very high 6 digit number that was offered did not buy the horse. Talk was of Hongkong etc. I also think that eventually his "program" took a toll - and interest faded. As for offspring results - his get compete at Inter I dressage, *** eventing (short format, Vincent for example) and I'm not sure about show jumping. He bred some really high numbers for a couple of years, but as with all stallions that breed a lot, there is a lot of quality variation in the mares crossed with him.

Graf has a difficult pedigree to work into an eventing program - that is a fact. And maybe it is that which makes him hard to figure out. His genetics scream dressage, while his athletic ability and mind obviously mean something else entirely. He is a very unique animal IMHO as he overcame a lot of less-than-ideal circumstances and performed at a level where most others would have given up. Graf knows what pain is, so much I know. And a horse like this can't be just a disappointment, let's move on, next one please. But he is also not your "proven" eventing sire - we're far from the last word on that. We simply do not know.

Now is the time to watch his offspring, maybe he got lucky and the heterogeneity of the mares crossed with him is less prominent in the UK. Time will tell. In the end, to me, the horse matters most. I really do not care about ownership, promotion etc.

Thank you both!
Lovely write up from Maren too. Super info (as usual)....